In an objective of the pancratic type, more often referred to as a varifocal or zoom objective, it is known to provide two axially shiftable components, usually preceded by a stationary front component, whose displacement changes the overall focal length of the system while holding its image plane constant. Within a normal zoom range, the object plane lies at infinity or at a lesser distance that may be chosen by slightly displacing, for example, all or part of the stationary front component. This normal range is limited at one end by a telephoto position, in which the overall focal length has its maximum value f.sub.max, and at the other end by a wide-angle position, the overall focal length then having a minimum value f.sub.min.
As has been shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,773,402, it is possible to reduce the effective focal length beyond that limiting value by a further shifting of one or both of the two axially movable components with concurrent displacement of the object plane, correlated with the stationary image plane, toward the objective. This enables the taking of closeup pictures of wide-angle format within the macro range which may be defined as one giving image scales between 1:10 and 1:1. Reference in this connection may also be made to U.S. Pat. No. 3,891,304. The transition from the normal range to the macro range is generally characterized by a reversal of the relative shift of the two movable components.
Alternatively, a foreshortening of the overall focal length with concurrent reduction in object distance can also be achieved -- abeit less conveniently -- by moving a normally withdrawn additional lens member into the path of the light rays within the varifocal objective.
In practice, conventional objectives of this type have overall focal lengths whose lower limit f.sub.min in the normal range is not less than about 7 mm. This restricts the extent to which a camera so equipped can be used by, for example, an amateur photographer interested in taking indoor pictures.